


Home for the Holidays

by lizandletdie



Series: The Adoption!verse [28]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, implied swanfire - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 11:04:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5537540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizandletdie/pseuds/lizandletdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set about 22 years after the end of A Mother and a Father, Katie Gold is home for Christmas and reconnects with someone from the past.</p><p>(if you haven't read the rest of the series, this won't make a lick of sense...sorry)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home for the Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> There will be a bit more Rumbelle in the next chapter, but that was mostly tagged because of the 'verse and because I didn't want anyone to miss anything.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy the glimpse into the future.

here was nothing quite like going back home on Christmas break. On the one hand, it meant Katie didn’t have to do her own laundry or suffer through dorm food, but on the flip side it meant staying with her parents and running into people she hadn’t seen since high school who wanted to catch up. It hadn’t really occurred to any of them that they wouldn’t want to be friends once they weren’t locked in a building together five times a week. The only person from school she’d really had any desire to catch up with was Roland Hood who had been her best friend since grade school. But first, she had to go home and see her family.

“Hey guys!” she called out as soon as she walked through the door. She’d half expected her dad to be waiting for her on the stairs, but he came out of the kitchen and smiled at her.

“Oh good,” he said. “You’re home!”

Which translated to _you didn’t die on the side of the road, so now I’m going to stop staring at my phone and picturing you dead_. She loved her dad, but he fussed. He’d probably had an itinerary for her trip made up someplace so that he’d know when she would arrive. The second year she’d been away at college she’d gone by the diner to pick up a pie on her way home and got sidetracked talking to people. The conversation was ended by a phone call gently enquiring as to why she was later than expected. Katie could practically _hear_ her mother on the other end glaring at him for worrying too much, but something about it was weirdly comforting, too. Some things never changed and one of those things was Arthur Gold.

“Hey,” she said, letting her dad envelope her in a hug. “Are Bae and Emma here yet?”

“Not yet,” he replied. “But they just called to say they were on their way.”

“Cool,” she said. “Where’s mom?”

“Just left for the store, actually. We ran out of milk while I was making the Alfredo.”

She smiled at that, her dad made the best sauces and it was kind of a tradition that he always made pasta for her when she got home from school. It was gonna be weird when she wasn't at school anymore next year.

“So it’s just us?”

“For another ten to fifteen minutes,” he replied. “Do you need help with your bags?”

“Nah,” she said. “I'll make Henry help me when they get here. Need help with the cooking?”

“No, but you can keep me company in the kitchen.”

That worked perfectly well for Katie, so she settled on one of the kitchen stools and watched him stirring while she answered his questions about how her life was going and what classes she was taking next semester and whether or not there were any cute girls (or boys, he was always sure to add because despite the fact she’d only ever dated girls she was still attracted to guys, too). Eventually, she heard the incredibly loud sound of her brother and his family pouring through the front door.

“Aunt Katie!” Moira practically screamed, running over to give her a hug. “You're here!”

“Sure am, kiddo,” Katie replied, jumping off her stool to wrap her arms around her six year old niece. “And you still need to work on the inside voice thing.”

Moira just giggled as her brothers Oscar and Henry followed her into the room. Even at nine, Oscar was already practically as tall as Katie was (though Katie hadn't ever gotten more than an inch or two taller than her mother). Oscar and Moira were both significantly younger than Henry, who was closer in age to Katie than he was to either of his siblings. Henry and Katie shared a weird bond that was really more like brother and sister than the one he shared with his siblings or she shared with Bae. The age difference were just too large, but then that's what  happens when you're the result of a second marriage and your brother gets his high school girlfriend pregnant.

Katie wasn't even entirely sure when or how Bae and Emma had started dating again after Henry was born. She thought it had been at least a few years, but really it felt like one day her brother was single and living with their parents and the next he and Emma were moving in together and expecting Ollie.

And now Henry was getting ready to start at college just as she was leaving it. Life was weird sometimes, but before Katie could linger on that fact too much longer her brother and sister-in-law were in the kitchen and it was time to make small talk until dinner.

\-----

A few days before Christmas, Katie was at the grocery store with her mom when they ran into Mulan. Her mother waved in greeting before Katie could stop her and next thing she knew she was watching her mother and her ex girlfriend exchanging pleasantries. It was kind of surreal, actually. Katie and Mulan had dated on and off for most of high school and had even gone to senior prom together, but to be honest she wasn't really sure if that was because they legitimately liked each other or just a lack of options for both and she'd always sort of suspected that Mulan wasn't entirely comfortable with Katie dating boys sometimes when they were on the outs.

The entire encounter probably lasted five minutes, but Katie couldn’t remember a single thing that they said afterward. That was the first time she’d seen Mulan since the summer after graduation, but according to Roland she was home for good now so odds were that she’d see her at least a few times over the summer now. Katie still didn’t have plans for after graduation beyond coming back to stay with her parents, and it was starting to creep up on her.

She ran back into Mulan two days later. They were both at the one bar in town. Katie and Roland were playing darts and reminiscing about old times when Mulan came up with her own drink.

“Hey guys,” Mulan said. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good,” Roland replied. “What about you? Haven’t seen you since high school.”

“I’ve been fine,” she said. “Been working at the gym, but I have an interview with the sheriff’s department soon and if that comes through then that’ll be a pretty good opportunity.”

“Good luck with that,” Katie said, staring into her drink. It was still weird being around Mulan, especially with her ex-girlfriend being on the verge of a career while Katie was still at a little bit of a loss herself. It was kind of terrifying being that close to adulthood.

“Thanks,” Mulan said awkwardly.

The three of them stood around not talking for a little while before Mulan turned to Katie.

“Can we talk?” she asked and Katie froze. She wasn’t really sure what she and Mulan had to talk about anymore, really. It had been a long time.

Katie glanced over at Roland and he just shrugged and wandered off to go get another drink from the bar leaving the two girls alone.

“What’s up?” Katie asked, holding her beer bottle tight to keep herself grounded. This was bringing up all kinds of feelings she was pretty sure she’d put aside a long time ago.

“Not a lot,” Mulan said. “I just wanted to apologize.”

“Oh?” Katie replied, her voice feeling thick in her throat as she spoke. This was not the conversation she’d expected when she walked in.

“Yeah,” Mulan said. “I think when we were in high school I probably said and did some shitty things, and I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“Like what?” Katie asked. She wasn’t sure what Mulan meant but she knew the parts that had hurt at the time and she was curious whether the two overlapped.

“I think I was pretty dismissive about your sexuality,” Mulan said at last. “I was really insecure and at the time it bugged me feeling like I was in competition with guys, too.”

And there it was. The thing they’d never really discussed at the time in any depth, and the thing that had ultimately broken them up.

“You know there wasn’t ever really a competition, right?” Katie asked, feeling strangely vulnerable all of a sudden now that it was all out in the open. “I wasn’t looking at anyone else when we were together.”

“Yeah,” Mulan said, looking a little ashamed. “I kind of figured that out later. I messed up, and I’m sorry.”

Katie wasn’t going to ask what had brought about this revelation, but it made her feel warm and almost relieved even though she hadn’t been aware of any tension about it. Forgiveness was a strange thing.

“Don’t worry about it,” Katie said at last. “We were both young and stupid.”

“We were,” Mulan agreed. “But hey, I just wanted to say that much. You deserved to hear it, and I needed to say it.”

“Thank you,” Katie said honestly, reaching out to put her hand on Mulan’s arm before she even realized what she was doing. “I appreciate it.”

“I’m glad,” Mulan said, looking around for a few seconds before stepping forward and brushing her lips against Katie’s cheek quickly and stepping back. “I’ll uh...I’ll see you around.”

It took Katie a second to get over her shock, not so much at Mulan’s actions as the butterflies in her stomach in reaction to it. Mulan was almost out the door when she finally recovered herself enough to run after the other woman.

“Mulan!” Katie called out, skidding to a halt in front of her ex-girlfriend. “We’re going to be back here for New Years Eve.”

“What?” Mulan asked.

“Roland and I,” Katie clarified. “We’re going to be back here on the thirty-first. As friends. Maybe I’ll see you then?”

A smile slowly spread across Mulan’s face as the meaning of Katie’s statement dawned on her.

“Maybe,” Mulan replied. “I don’t have any other plans.”

“Good,” Katie said, stepping aside. “I’ll see you then. As friends.”

“Right,” Mulan said, still grinning. “I’ll see you on New Years.”

Mulan walked past Katie to the door and Katie felt lighter than she had in ages watching her leave for so long that it took her a little while to realize that Roland had come up behind her and was watching over her shoulder.

“What are we doing?” he whispered from so close that Katie about fell over jumping away from him.

“ _Fuck!_ ” Katie exclaimed, clutching her chest where her heart was racing. “Don’t do that!”

“So what’d she want?” he asked her with a grin. “Did she ask you to marry her at last?”

“She wanted to apologize,” Katie replied.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said. “And I asked her on a date.”

And hopefully, that wasn’t a decision she was going to regret.


End file.
